SNL TSA Skit Steams Up Security

by bog bit

An SNL TSA skit was required to make light of a controversial topic. So this weekend’s SNL TSA skit reduced the new “pat-down” procedures to a porno ad. Since the Transportation Security Administration is getting more aggressive in checking passengers, there are obvious sexual overtones to joke about. Of course, one passenger threatened to get someone fired if his “junk” was touched a while back. But for those who aren’t as reluctant to get fondled, the SNL TSA skit turned the invasive search into a sexual thrill ride.

The holidays are a lonely time for many people, if they don’t have anyone to get close to. Therefore, this may be a good time of the year for phone sex lines, and for escort services. But they aren’t the only places where someone can get fondled for a price these days

The SNL TSA skit set itself up as a phone sex line commercial, with the female cast members teasing the chance to feel human contact. But it was Transportation Security Administration officials who took it from there.

All it takes to get this special treatment is to refuse a full body scan. In real life, many people are outraged over this choice, as their entire body will either be scanned for all to see, or be patted down to an uncomfortable degree. Given the “Underwear Bomber” crisis last holiday season, airports are going more over the top to prevent it from happening again.

To those who aren’t furious, or railing against a police state, this situation has become a theater of the absurd. Therefore, the SNL TSA skit is the ideal way to show that, as a serious issue becomes easy fodder for sex jokes.

What’s more, as the fake ad points out, the sexualized contact is more likely to come from male employees – which might make things more uncomfortable for some male passengers. It certainly made John Tyner more uncomfortable, as it spawned the “Don’t touch my junk” phrase that defined this story.

Somehow, the SNL TSA skit didn’t contain a “junk” reference, however. But the parody contained more intentional laughs than Tyner’s outburst, and much of this controversy in general.

Although it is extremely easy to joke about TSA pat downs and scanners, it is far less funny to see them up close. Even if the agency gussied it up with quasi-phone sex ads, it would be too little, too late by now.